Monckton knife killer’s accomplice was on bail
THE scandal surrounding the murder of banker John Monckton deepened yesterday when it emerged that drug dealer Elliot White was on bail a t t h e t i m e h e w a s involved in the attack.
White, 24, was awaiting trial on heroin and crack cocaine charges when father- of-two Mr Monckton was stabbed in his £3million home.
In the run-up to the killing, White also repeatedly breached a drug treatment order handed out by the courts.
The community sentence was supposed to ensure he stayed clean of drugs and out of trouble.
But a fortnight before Mr Monckton’s death on November 29 last year, he tested positive for cannabis. Two months earlier, in September last year, traces of cocaine, morphine and cannabis were found drug addict’s blood.
Altogether in the three months before the murder, he failed drug tests on an astonishing seven separate occasions.
Despite this, he was not hauled back before the courts. Had such action been taken he might not have been free to take part in the robbery which cost Mr Monckton’s life.
White held Mr Monckton in a bear hug while his accomplice Damien Hanson repeatedly stabbed him.
Hanson, 24, was last week convicted of murdering Mr Monckton and attempting to murder his wife Homeyra three months after being released early from prison.
He had been freed after serving seven years of a 12-year sentence for attempted murder, despite official assessments saying there was a 91 per cent chance he would reoffend.
Once back in the community, he was deemed a ‘ low risk’ offender by the Probation Service, meaning there was little supervision.
Details of how serial drug offender White was free to kill can be revealed after he was in the yesterday found guilty of wounding Mrs Monckton with intent.
An Old Bailey jury found him guilty of Mr Monckton’s manslaughter on Friday.
Following the conclusion of the case, Home Secretary Charles Clarke ordered an investigation into how Hanson and White had been free to kill Mr Monckton.
The Chief Inspector of Probation, Andrew Bridges, will head the inquiry into a number of ‘ serious questions’ surrounding the release and supervision of the evil pair.
White received a three-year jail term in April this year for possessing heroin and crack cocaine with intent to supply, the charges for which he was on bail at the time of the killing. On the night of November 29 last year, Hanson and White tricked their way into the financier’s three- storey home in Chelsea and left him dead, his wife fighting for her life and their nine- year- old daughter terrified. Mr Clarke said that the ‘tragic’ case raised a number of questions about the release from prison and supervision in the community of the killers.
‘It is essential that we have in place systems to deal with violent offenders which are as rigorous as possible and minimise the risk to the public that such offenders may pose.’
The inquiry will examine the roles of all the agencies who came into contact with Hanson and White, including the Prison Service, Probation Service and the Parole Board.
In a joint statement, the National Probation Service, Metropolitan Police and the Prison Service said a ‘ thorough review’ of the case had already been completed.
The lessons learned from their handling of the case were now being now implemented in a ‘root and branch overhaul’ of the way they manage offenders in the community.
The assistant general secretary of the probation union Napo, Harry Fletcher, welcomed the investigation, adding: ‘Any findings that would suggest a need for improved procedures should be acted upon without delay to minimise the possibility of any further tragedies and to maximise public protection.’
Hanson and White will be sentenced on February 3 once Probation Service and psychiatric reports have been completed.
Mrs Monckton, 46, who broke down while giving evidence in the trial, was not present at court for the conclusion of what the judge, Mr Justice Calvert- Smith, described as a ‘ gruelling’ case.
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